


Never Knew

by mangofricker



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-28
Updated: 2015-08-28
Packaged: 2018-04-17 17:31:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4675268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mangofricker/pseuds/mangofricker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Barry has gone through the singularity-- at least, he thinks he did. Where he ends up is not what he expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Never Knew

**Author's Note:**

> this is just a one-shot but I was getting emotional about Eddie so. here. also for tumblr user acebarry

The last thing he remembers is running. More specifically, running up. The second to last thing he remembers is someone dying, the loss of golden hair paired with bright blue eyes. He remembers a woman screaming, and his heart hurts to remember. His whole body should hurt after what he went through, but as he registers the world around him, he finds he’s pleasantly warm and lying on something soft.

Barry opens his eyes, disoriented when he finds himself in his bedroom. He jolts up and pulls open the blinds; no singularity over the city. He wonders if he dreamed the whole thing. 

He can still feel the rush of electricity in his veins; he has his speed. And the Flash’s friction-resistant suit, he realizes as he looks down at himself. Now, at least, he knows he ran through the singularity. The suit is damaged in places from his fight with Eobard Thawne-- he flinches, recalling the gunshot that meant Eddie’s death (and Eobard’s). He wonders if the “younger” Thawne exists here, or if this universe was free of Metahumans and the particle accelerator never exploded.

Eddie. He should be wondering about Eddie. Iris, he felt, had to exist here. He’d know if she didn’t, wouldn’t he? But maybe the Thawne family had never come to be in this universe. 

(He wondered how he’d ever get back, but the thought was too painful to consider in depth so he pushed it away. Later he would have nights of shaking in fear of what could have happened to his friends at home.) 

Somehow all other possible existent/nonexistent people didn’t matter. He needed to know if Eddie was alive here, or if yet another universe had to go on without Detective Pretty Boy.

 

It’s the same day as the day he woke up from his coma, and Iris still works at Jitters. The only change is her reaction to seeing him. Instead of a tearful hug, he receives a peck on the lips. 

“Hey, Bar!” She’s smiling, and Barry hides his surprise with a smile that he hopes looks normal. “You should’ve told me you were visiting, I would’ve cleared my shift.” Iris looks at the watch on her wrist, still smiling. Barry feels lighter every minute she’s happy, but it’s hard to reconcile his distraught best friend that he remembers with the woman in front of him. “Eddie will be here when I’m done with my shift. We were going to surprise you today, but I guess that’s a bust.” She nudges his shoulder, kisses his cheek, and returns to the counter. 

In a haze (confused out of his mind, heart beating rapidly, somehow unable to keep a smile off his face despite his grief), he goes to a booth by the window and pinches himself. Maybe he’s in a coma again and this is just a really vivid dream.

And then Eddie’s there, blue eyes sparkling, and Barry feels like crying. 

For a moment he thinks he sees blood blossoming on Eddie’s chest, but he blinks and it’s gone. Eddie smiles at him, and he painfully remembers their curt last goodbye, the way he wanted to hug him, somehow knowing in his heart that something would happen to him. 

He doesn’t restrain himself now, standing and hugging the man he loved, and this time he does cry, because he’s real. He can feel the steady rise and fall of Eddie’s chest, hears the surprised grunt he makes, and how his arms immediately encircle him like they’ve done this for years. 

(Maybe here they have; Barry is, for a moment, angry at the version of himself that was allowed this life.) 

“I’m not complaining, but we just saw each other yesterday, Bar,” Eddie says, and Barry steps back with a sheepish smile, but Eddie sees through it. “You okay?” 

Barry watches his face, memorizes the concern in his eyes, the way his forehead creases in worry. He should have noticed it before, should have said something. Should have saved him.

“Yeah. Sorry. I had…” he swallows. “I had a bad dream. I’m glad you’re here.” 

Eddie kisses his forehead, and Iris is there, holding his hand. 

“I’m glad I’m here, too.”


End file.
